NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana affirmed a ruling earlier this month from a magistrate judge who denied the plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration in a wage and overtime pay case.
Judge Jane Triche Milazzo ruled on the case May 10 and decided it was best to back the magistrate judge’s ruling.
Seventeen present and former employees of defendant Flight Services and Systems Inc. accused the company of infringing on their rights in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when it allegedly failed to pay them the required minimum wage and overtime pay.
The magistrate sided with the defendant, “preserving defendant’s confidentiality designations and compelling plaintiffs’ discovery responses,” according to District Jane Triche Milazzo's ruling.
While the plaintiffs asked for a reconsideration, the magistrate also denied that and they subsequently appealed.
While Milazzo said the magistrate erred by applying the wrong standard to the motion, there was not enough margin of the error that would cause a reversal of the decision.
“As the magistrate judge noted and this court confirmed, plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration raised few arguments not already addressed or considered by the magistrate judge in ruling on the underlying discovery disputes,” said Milazzo. “Even under a Rule 54(b) standard, a court need not rehash arguments it has already considered.”
Ultimately, the plaintiffs did not do their part in showing that the magistrate’s decision was outright wrong and legally incorrect. Instead, the plaintiffs used much of their motion asking for a reversal of the decision based on discovery orders.
“An appeal of those orders is not, however, properly before this court and indeed would have been untimely,” said Milazzo.